The subject matter herein relates generally to connectors for flex circuits.
Flex circuits use a flexible plastic substrate having printed circuits thereon. The flexible plastic substrate is capable of being routed between two electronic components while being conformed to a desired shape or flexed during use. The flex circuits are mated with the electronic component at a separable interface by pressing the side of the flex circuit into the electronic component. Such mating schemes only allow connection to one side of the flex circuit. The real estate available for mating to the electronic component is limited.
One type of connector is known as a card edge connector and is in wide use today. Card edge connectors typically include a connector housing having a slot that receives an edge of a printed circuit board. Heretofore, card edge connectors have not been usable with flex circuits due in part to the difficulty of loading a flex circuit into the slot of the card edge connector. The loading force is too high for the flexible plastic substrate.
A need remains for a connector for a flex circuit having an increase in the number of connector positions between the connector and the flex circuit. A need remains for a high density flex circuit having an increased number of mating interfaces for mating with a connector. A need remains for a card edge connector configured for mating with a flex circuit.